I am Professor of Public Policy and Governance, and Distinguished Faculty Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences (FMG) at the University of Amsterdam. I am also a member of the Political Economy and Transnational Governance (PETGOV) research programme of the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR), and founding Academic Director of the Amsterdam Centre for European Studies (ACES), a Research Priority Area of the University of Amsterdam and the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Curriculum Vitae

Before joining the UvA in January 2010, I taught for 18 years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I was Professor of Sociology, Public Policy, Political Science, Industrial Relations, and History, as well as Director of the European Union Center of Excellence and the Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE). Prior to that, I was Lecturer in Modern Economic and Social History at Birkbeck College, University of London, and a Research Fellow at King's College, Cambridge. I hold a PhD from the University of Warwick (1981), an MA from the University of Cambridge (1983), and a BA from Harvard College (1977).

I have received fellowships, awards, and grants from the European Commission, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the European University Institute, the Guggenheim Foundation, the German Marshall Fund of the US, the Swedish Council for the Coordination and Initiation of Research (FRN), the UK Economic and Social Research Council, and the Association of Commonwealth Universities. I have held visiting appointments at the École des Hautes Études, Paris; the European University Institute, Florence; the University of New South Wales; Copenhagen Business School; and the University of Tokyo. I served as President of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE), 2009-2011. From 2011 to 2014, I held a Jean Monnet Chair in European and Transnational Governance from the European Commission.

Research and Policy Work

My current research focuses on new forms of 'experimentalist' governance within and beyond the European Union, which diverge in various respects from standard hierarchical or 'command and control' models. Defined in general terms, experimentalist governance is a recursive process of provisional goal-setting and revision based on learning from the comparison of alternative approaches to advancing them in different contexts, often organized as a multi-level architecture. Experimentalist governance architectures of this type have become pervasively institutionalized across the EU, covering a broad array of policy domains including energy and telecommunications regulation, financial services, competition, food and drug safety, data privacy, environmental protection, employment promotion, social inclusion, justice and security, crisis management, anti-discrimination, and fundamental rights. But governance architectures with similar properties can also be found in the US and other developed democracies, both in the provision of public services like education and child welfare, and in the regulation of health and safety risks, such as nuclear power, food processing, and environmental pollution. Transnational experimentalist regimes have likewise emerged across a number of major issue-areas, such as environmental sustainability, food safety, data privacy, and human rights.

For the past two decades, I have studied the coordination of EU social, economic, and employment policies, through the Open Method of Coordination, the European Employment Strategy, the Lisbon Strategy, the Europe 2020 Strategy, and the European Semester. I have written extensively on these issues, and has frequently served as a speaker, advisor, and evaluator for EU institutions, including the Commission, the Parliament, rotating Council Presidencies, the Committee of the Regions, the European Economic and Social Committee, the Employment and Social Protection Committees, and the Platform of European Social NGOs (Social Platform).

In addition to my current work on European and transnational governance, I have published extensively on international and comparative business organization (with a particular focus on multinational companies and global supply chains); local and regional economic development and industrial policy; comparative labour and employment relations; and business, labour, and technological history. I have also served as a policy advisor and research consultant to the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Program (WMEP), the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and the Greater London Council (GLC).

EU Socio-Economic Governance since the Crisis

“EU Socio-Economic Governance since the Crisis: The European Semester in Theory and Practice” (lead co-editor with Amy Verdun), special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy, vol. 25, no. 2, 2018.

Socializing the European Semester

“Socializing the European Semester: EU Social and Economic Policy Coordination in Crisis and Beyond” (lead co-author with Bart Vanhercke), Journal of European Public Policy, vol. 25, no. 2, 2018: 149-74.

Capacitating Services and the Bottom-Up Approach to Social Investment

“Capacitating Services and the Bottom-Up Approach to Social Investment” (co-authored with Charles Sabel and Sigrid Quack), in Anton Hemerijck (ed.), The Uses of Social Investment, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017, pp. 140-9.

Economic Governance in Europe 2020: Socializing the European Semester against the Odds?

“Economic Governance in Europe 2020: Socializing the European Semester against the Odds?” (co-authored with Bart Vanhercke), in David Natali and Bart Vanhercke (eds.), Social Policy in the European Union: State of Play 2015, Brussels: European Trade Union Institute/Observatoire Social Européen, 2015, pp. 65-95.

Experimentalism in the EU: Common Ground and Persistent Differences

"Experimentalism in the EU: Common Ground and Persistent Differences" (co-authored with Charles Sabel), response to symposium on "Experimentalist Governance in the European Union", Regulation and Governance 6(3), September 2012, pp. 410-26.

Experimentalist Governance

Inaugural Lecture

Transnational Transformations of Governance: The European Union and Beyond, inaugural lecture delivered upon accession to the office of Professor of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Amsterdam on 11 November 2010, Oratiereeks 388, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

Extending Experimentalist Governance?

Assessing the Open Method of Coordination

Assessing the Open Method of Coordination: Institutional Design and National Influence of EU Social Policy Coordination (co-edited with Egidijus Barcevičius and J. Timo Weishaupt), “Work and Welfare in Europe” series, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.

Experimentalist Governance in the European Union

Changing European Employment and Welfare Regimes

Changing European Employment and Welfare Regimes: The Influence of the Open Method of Coordination on National Reforms (co-edited with Martin Heidenreich), Routledge/EUI Studies in the Political Economy of Welfare, 2009.

World of Possibilities

The Power to Manage?

The Power to Manage? Employers and Industrial Relations in Comparative-Historical Perspective (co-edited with Steven Tolliday), London and New York: Routledge, 1991

Between Fordism and Flexibility

Between Fordism and Flexibility: The Automobile Industry and Its Workers , (co-edited with Steven Tolliday), Oxford: Berg Publishers/New York: St. Martins, 1992, originally published as The Automobile Industry and Its Workers: Between Fordism and Flexibility, Cambridge: Polity Press/New York: St. Martins, 1986

Governance in the European Union: Trajectories and Transformations

Transnational Governance

Thesis Supervision

Professor Zeitlin has supervised 11 completed PhD theses and served on more than 50 PhD dissertation committees and juries at the Universities of Wisconsin-Madison, Michigan, London, Cambridge, Paris, and Amsterdam. He has also supervised 70 Masters theses.

Further Socializing the European Semester

Further Socializing the European Semester: Moving Forward for the Social Triple A? (co-authored with Bart Vanhercke and Astrid Zwinkels), report commissioned by the Luxembourg Parliament and Presidency of the European Union, Brussels: European Social Observatory, December 2015.

2011

Zeitlin, J. (2011). Is the Open Method of Coordination an alternative to the Community Method? In R. Dehousse (Ed.), The 'Community Method': obstinate or obsolete? (pp. 135-147). (Palgrave studies in European Union politics). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. [details]

Zeitlin, J. H. (2009). Introduction. In M. Heidenreich, & J. Zeitlin (Eds.), Changing European employment and welfare regimes: the influence of the open method of coordination on national reforms (Routledge/EUI studies in the political economy of welfare; No. 12). London: Routledge.

Zeitlin, J. H. (2009). The Open Method of Coordination and National Social and Employment Policy Reforms: Influences, Mechanisms, Effects. In M. Heidenreich, & J. Zeitlin (Eds.), Changing European employment and welfare regimes: the influence of the open method of coordination on national reforms (Routledge/EUI studies in the political economy of welfare; No. 12). London: Routledge.

Zeitlin, J. (2005). Social Europe and experimentalist governance: towards a new constitutional compromise? In G. de Búrca (Ed.), EU law and the welfare state: in search of solidarity (pp. 213-241). (The collected courses of the Academy of European Law; No. 14/2). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199287413.003.0007

2003

Zeitlin, J. H. (2003). Introduction: Governing Work and Welfare in a New Economy: European and American Experiments. In J. H. Zeitlin, & D. Trubek (Eds.), Governing Work and Welfare in a New Economy Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Zeitlin, J. H. (2003). Productive Alternatives: Flexibility, Governance, and Strategic Choice in Industrial History. In F. Amatori, & G. G. Jones (Eds.), Business History Around the World (pp. 62-80). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

2010

2009

Heidenreich, M., & Zeitlin, J. (2009). Changing European employment and welfare regimes: the influence of the open method of coordination on national reforms. (Routledge/EUI studies in the political economy of welfare; No. 12). London: Routledge.

2015

Zeitlin, J., & Vanhercke, B. (2015). Economic governance in Europe 2020: socializing the European Semester against the odds? In D. Natali, & B. Vanhercke (Eds.), Social policy in the European Union: state of play 2015 (pp. 65-95). Brussels: ETUI. [details]

Zeitlin, J. H. (2017). Socializing the European Semester: EU Economic and Social Policy Coordination in Crisis and Beyond: paper presented at panel on “When the European Semester Hits Home: The Influence of the EU’s Post-Crisis Governance Architecture on National Reforms”. Paper presented at European Union Studies Association (EUSA) biennial conference, Miami, United States.

Zeitlin, J. H. (speaker) (1-12-2016). “Participation by Local and Regional Authorities in EU Socio-Economic Policy Coordination”. Statement to expert hearing on “A Code of Conduct for Cities and Regions in the European Semester”., Committee of the Regions, Brussels.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (4-7-2016). Experimentalist Governance in the EU, lecture to European Integration Summer School (EISS), University of Agder, Kristiansand.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (4-7-2016). EU Experimentalist Governance in Times of Crisis, lecture to European Integration Summer School (EISS), University of Agder, Kristiansand.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (27-6-2016). Socializing the European Semester: EU Economic Governance and Social Policy Coordination since the Crisis, presentation to workshop on ‘The Constitutional Dimension of the European Semester’, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (3-6-2016). Centralized Economic Governance vs. Enhanced Market Discipline: Is a Third Way Needed?, presentation to expert seminar on “The Future of EMU”, Permanent Representation of the European Commission in Belgium and Institute for European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussel.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (30-5-2016). Socializing the European Semester: EU Economic Governance and Social Policy Coordination since the Crisis, presentation to EU Horizon 2020 ENLIGHTEN project workshop on “Legitimacy of the European Union’s Modes of Governance after the Crisis”, Institut d’Études Européennes, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (24-3-2016). Experimentalism in the EU and Global Governance, lecture to series on “Global Governance, International Law and the EU - Actors, Institutions, Policies and Rules”, Centre for Global Governance, University of Leuven (KUL), Leuven.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (11-3-2016). Invited lecture: Experimentalist Governance in the European Union, seminar on “Questioning the Local Implementation of EU Environmental and Sustainable Development Policy", Bordeaux.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (25-11-2014). Experimentalist Governance after the Crisis: Why the EU Needs It Now More than Ever, presentation to Political Economy Forum, Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, Providence, RI.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (20-11-2014). Socializing and Democratizing the European Semester, keynote presentation to Annual Convention of the European Platform Against Poverty and Social Exclusion, Brussels.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (14-11-2014). Extending Experimentalist Governance? The European Union and Transnational Regulation., presentation to seminar on “The State and Capitalism since 1800”, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Boston.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (3-11-2014). Experimentalist Governance after the Crisis: Why the EU Needs It Now More than Ever., guest lecture, Center for the Study of Europe, Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University, Boston.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (20-10-2014). Extending Experimentalist Governance? The European Union and Transnational Regulation., presentation to international research conference on “The European Union and Global Governance”, Institute for European Integration Research (EIF), University of Vienna, Vienna.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (10-7-2014). Extending Experimentalist Governance? The European Union and Transnational Regulation., presentation to panel at the 25th annual meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE), Chicago.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (15-6-2014). Experimentalist Governance after the Crisis: Why the EU Needs It Now More than Ever., presentation to international workshop on “Rethinking European Integration”, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Florence.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (5-6-2014). Socializing the European Semester? Economic Governance and Social Policy Coordination in Europe 2020, presentation to panel on “The End of Social Europe?” at the 7th ECPR Pan-European Conference on the European Union, The Hague.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (11-4-2014). Socializing the European Semester? Economic Governance and Social Policy Coordination in Europe 2020, presentation to workshop on “The European Semester and the New Architecture of EU Socio-Economic Governance”, Amsterdam Centre for Contemporary European Studies (ACCESS EUROPE), Amsterdam.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (8-1-2014). Socializing the European Semester? Economic Governance and Social Policy Coordination in Europe 2020, presentation to the 5th International Conference on ‘Democracy as Idea and Practice’, University of Oslo, Oslo.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (2-12-2013). "Democratizing the European Semester", Invited/Keynote at the Committee of the Regions workshop on "The Future of Europe 2020", Brussels.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (25-9-2013). "Socializing the European Semester? Economic Governance and Social Policy Coordination in Europe 2020", Invited/Keynote at the Netherlands-China Joint Dialogue Seminar on “The Future of Work, Care and Welfare in Europe and China”, Renmin University of China, Beijing.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (24-9-2013). "Tracing the Social OMC from Its Origins to Europe 2020", Invited/Keynote at the Netherlands-China Joint Dialogue Seminar on “The Future of Work, Care and Welfare in Europe and China”, Renmin University of China, Beijing.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (24-6-2013). "How a Reformed European Platform on Poverty Could Contribute to a More Participatory European Semester", Invited/Keynote at the Platform of European Social NGOs, Social Policy Working Group, Brussels.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (21-10-2011). Experimentalist Governance in the European Union, Symposium on Experimentalist Governance in the EU, Kolleg-Forschergruppe "The Transformative Power of Europe", Otto-Suhr-Institute for Political Science, Free University, Berlin.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (14-9-2010). Towards a Stronger OMC in a More Social Europe 2020: A New Governance Architecture for EU Policy Coordination, Belgian Presidency of the EU Conference, “EU Coordination in the Social Field in the Context of Europe 2020: Looking Back and Building the Future, La Hulpe, Belgium.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (3-9-2010). Extending Experimentalist Governance: From the EU to the World?", panel on “Transnational Integration Regimes", annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington, D.C..

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (17-5-2010). Inter-firm Relations in Global Manufacturing: Disintegrated Production and Its Globalization, Business History Seminar, Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (5-5-2010). Extending Experimentalist Governance: From the EU to the World?, workshop on “Rule-Making in the EU and Global Governance: Is There a Convergence?”, Straus Institute for the Advanced Study of Law and Justice, New York University.

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (23-4-2010). Inter-firm Relations in Global Manufacturing: Disintegrated Production and Its Globalization, faculty research seminar, Centre for Sociological Research (CeSO), Catholic University of Leuwen (KUL).

Zeitlin, J. H. (invited speaker) (8-4-2010). Learning from Difference: The New Architecture of Experimentalist Governance in the European Union, workshop on “Peer Reviews as an Instrument of International Governance, University of Bremen.

Zeitlin, J. H. (organiser) (13-6-2018 - 15-6-2018). ECPR Standing Group on the EU, Pan-European Conference, Paris, France. Co-organizer, Section on Social Europe and the Future of the Welfare State, European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) (organising a conference, workshop, ...).

Zeitlin, J. H. (participant) & Sabel, Ch. (participant) (12-12-2014). international workshop at the Watson Institute for International Studies, Providence, RI. New Approaches to Financial Regulation: The European Union in Global Context (participating in a conference, workshop, ...).

Zeitlin, J. H. (participant) (25-6-2013 - 27-6-2013). Member of the Program Committee, Twentieth International Conference of Europeanists, Amsterdam, Amsterdam (participating in a conference, workshop, ...).

Zeitlin, J. H. (organiser) (23-10-2009 - 24-10-2009). international research workshop, European Center of Excellence and the Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE), University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Extending Experimentalist Governance: From the EU to the World?" (organising a conference, workshop, ...).